


Envy is My Only Vice

by pirafu



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, but happy ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:41:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23112625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pirafu/pseuds/pirafu
Summary: Claude and Sylvain get friendly- Felix gets jealous.[Mild spoilers for chapter 5 and Sylvain's backstory]
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier, Sylvain Jose Gautier & Claude von Riegan, Sylvain Jose Gautier/Claude von Riegan
Kudos: 43





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like Felix is definitely the jealous type- but he's super passive aggressive about it because he's such a tsundere.

Felix liked to think that he knew Sylvain better than anyone else. He knew why Sylvain behaved the way he did, though he couldn't agree with it. The generic compliments, the fake smile that never reached his eyes, the empty promises- it was just a part of his act. All a ruse to catch another unknowing victim off guard, only to play around with them until he got bored and then push them aside. 

He knew this, which is why he didn't pay much mind whenever he saw Sylvain talking to another random girl. Not that it didn't bother Felix- it frustrates him to no end how Sylvain toys with other people. Sylvain's philandering was no secret, he's always been upfront about it with the other person from the beginning. Sylvain had no real feelings for them, which as selfish as it was, made Felix feel relieved. 

When Felix saw him smiling and laughing with Claude, he felt his gut twist. It wasn't like all the other times he saw Sylvain flirting with random girls. This somehow struck differently. Sylvain had a genuine smile, the one he showed to him, Ingrid, and the boar. It shouldn't bother him who Sylvain spent his time with, that was his choice. He should just brush it off like he did any other time. Still, seeing them get along so well didn't sit right with him- it evoked an ugly emotion, one he didn't want to admit. 

The first time he had seen them together, was shortly after the mission to retrieve the Lance of Ruin. Although Sylvain acted as if everything was normal, Felix knew he was quietly suffering. He had always been like this. Even as kids, Sylvain wouldn't utter a single complaint about the abuse at home. Whenever he would try to ask about his wounds, he always brushed it off with a sad smile and told him everything was just fine. That the bruises an scratches were merely the result of tripping or falling. 

The others in their class seemed to be convinced by Sylvain's perfectly constructed facade, but Felix saw the darkness in his eyes, heard the strain in his voice. He seemed so tired. Yet, no matter how many times Felix tried to comfort him, to talk to him, to help in any possible way that he could, Sylvain would just smile at him and continue as normal. As if he wasn't practically forced to kill his own flesh and blood- no matter how vile Miklan was, it still must have been horrible. He would keep lying and telling him he's fine. This continued for the couple weeks following their mission, when one day he spotted Sylvain sitting with Claude on a bench near the classrooms. He thought it was odd to see the two of them together, especially when they've barely talked previously. Even more curious, was that he could see Sylvain seemed much more relaxed than he had been these past two weeks. He saw what was probably the first smile that wasn't clearly forced since when they had received the mission assignment. 

He has never felt so distraught.

It didn't make any sense to feel that way, and it was unfair to Sylvain. He should have been glad to see Sylvain start to recover, but he wanted to be that support for him. While he tried so hard to get Sylvain to open up to him, it took Claude a single conversation for what Felix couldn't manage to do these entire two weeks.

The days following, it seemed that whenever he saw Sylvain, Claude was sure to be by his side. Always laughing and smiling. Wasn't Claude being a bit too friendly? He hadn't even had the chance to spend time with Sylvain alone, and he was supposed to be Sylvain's closest friend.

Another couple days pass, and Felix was appalled to see Claude sitting next to Sylvain.. in _his _spot at the usual table in the dining hall. First his time with Sylvain is stolen, and now even the one moment he could spend with him during dinner was taken from him too.__

Ingrid and Dimitri were already immersed in conversation with Claude and Sylvain. Felix stalked up to the table with a scowl. 

"Hey Felix! We were waiting for you! Claude wanted to eat with us, you don't mind, right?" Sylvain gave him a big grin and patted the seat to his left, which he had saved for Felix. It's the little things like this that made Felix feel tender towards Sylvain.

"Hope you don't mind the intrusion! I've actually been wanting to get the chance to talk to you too- get to know you better." Claude looked at him with a soft expression. It irritated him. 

Felix huffed as he sat down. "There's nothing to know." 

"Sorry, that's just how he is- you'll get used to it." Sylvain assured Claude. 

Felix glared at Sylvain as he started eating his food. He didn't partake in their conversation, barely even listening to what they were talking about. That is until Ingrid brought up something he's noticed as well.

"Well, anyway, I for one think that Claude might actually be a good influence on our Sylvain over here. I misjudged you when we first met- I thought you were irresponsible and entirely too carefree. I thought you were exactly like Sylvain! I do suppose you two still have a similar atmosphere, though. More surprisingly, I haven't been getting any complaints as of late... Actually, I can't think of the last time I've even seen Sylvain with a girl on his arm! Not to mention he's actually paying attention in class and putting in more effort! It's a huge step forward. I'm really grateful for that, Claude."

Sylvain scrunched his nose and pouted at that. "Ugh, Ingrid, you sound as if you were my mother!"

"Well with all that I had to put up with because of your behavior, I honestly felt like I was dealing with a child!"

Claude laughed at this and flashed Sylvain a lazy smile and a wink. "It seems I've successfully seduced him into loyalty, then~. "

"Who could ever resist such a handsome and charming fellow?" Sylvain shot back. 

Although Sylvain spoke this way to just about anyone, Felix saw the blush spread on Sylvain's cheeks after hearing Claude's line. How could they have the audacity to flirt so openly, especially in front of him? Felix grit his teeth and held back the despicable insults on his tongue. 

"I'm done here." Felix spat angrily, and quickly dismissed himself from the table leaving the rest of them confused.

Felix went to bed feeling bitter. If they wanted to flirt with each other so much, they could do as they pleased, but Felix wanted nothing to do with it.

At the training grounds, Felix practiced his routine footwork and swung at the beaten dummies. He was particularly stressed after the show from the previous night, and the training dummies served as evidence to his vented anger. Just as he finished up his sets, he spotted Sylvain pop in through the door. A truly rare sight for him to show on his own accord, and even more surprising was that Claude wasn't by his side today, when they had become practically inseparable.

"Looks like you're at it as usual. Need a training partner?" Sylvain smiled at him as he picked up a training lance.

Felix curtly replied, barely looking in his direction. "I'm fine on my own."

"Oh, come one, don't be like that Felix. I haven't been able to spend much time with you lately, entertain me a little? I promise I'll put up a pretty decent challenge."

"If you want a training partner that badly, why don't you go ask Claude?" 

"Huh? I want to train with you, Felix.." Sylvain gave him a pout. 

How dense. He had no idea how Felix felt, how annoyed he was that Sylvain granted Claude all the attention, while paying Felix no heed. Felix had come here to vent, and seeing Sylvain only fed his anger. He knew if he agreed, he would end up taking it out on Sylvain- even though he hadn't really done anything wrong. 

"I was just about to retire. I'm tired." 

"Oh, then how about we go get some food at the dining hall?" 

"Not hungry." 

Felix was quick to put everything away and make his way back to his dorm room. He could see the disappointment in Sylvain's expression, as he passed him on his way out the door. Now he felt bitter _and _guilty.__


	2. Chapter 2

Since their exchange in the training room, Sylvain realized that he was being avoided. Every time he would try to talk to Felix, the conversation would end abruptly with Felix retiring to his room. They hadn't even eaten together, since Felix insisted on taking his food back to his room to eat. For once, Sylvain was entirely lost on what he had done wrong.

Thinking that maybe Felix just needed some space, Sylvain left him alone for a while, but that didn't seem to work either. He became increasingly worried that maybe he had done something so horrible that Felix had just given up on him altogether. 

"Felix, please. Can we just talk for a little bit?" Sylvain could feel the strain in his voice. He had finally caught Felix before he could disappear into his room, and he couldn't let another day go by without fixing this mess. Otherwise, he felt that this rift would continue on for the rest of their lives, or even worse, that they would eventually not even speak to each other anymore.

Felix didn't look at his face. "I'm tired."

"You're clearly avoiding me, and it must be something that I've done to upset you. I want to fix this, I don't want this weird tension between us to continue on forever. Please.. just tell me what I did that hurt you. I'll do better, I promise!" 

It wasn't Sylvain's fault. He didn't do anything wrong; this was entirely the result of Felix's emotional instability. Felix didn't want this to happen either, he wanted everything to go back to the way it was before, but he had avoided Sylvain out of necessity. He didn't want to lash out and dump all of his emotional baggage onto him. He couldn't do that to Sylvain, especially because of his nature, Sylvain would just quietly take everything that Felix throws at him- it would be too cruel. Yet at the same time, he could tell he's already hurt Sylvain by avoiding him like this. He's made a huge misunderstanding and had Sylvain taking the blame in the end. He looked so guilty and lost- practically desperate at this point. It's because Felix was incapable of sorting out his own feelings. Because he was too much of a coward to accept them. 

"It's nothing, you're worrying too much." 

It was Felix's feeble attempt at letting Sylvain know he wasn't the source of his distress, and that he wasn't particularly upset at him. Of course, with the lack of ability to express this clearly, it just made Sylvain feel more uneasy. 

"It's obviously not 'nothing'. Would you at least talk to me about the problem?" 

"If you want to talk about your problems, go talk to Claude." 

Sylvain was very well accustomed to Felix's typical callousness, but this time his words cut deep. 

"Why do you keep bringing up Claude, anyway? He has nothing to do with this!"

"You'd have figured it out by now if you weren't such a halfwit! But it doesn't even matter, does it? He's obviously a much better friend to you than I am."

"What are you talking about? If I'm such an idiot and can't figure it out for myself, then why can't you just tell me?! We've known each other since we were kids, you're my closest friend and the one person I trust the most! How could anyone change that?!" 

"If that was true, you would have come to me after that mission. Every time I tried to say something, you lied to my face- told me you were fine when you clearly weren't. Why was it so easy to talk to Claude about it, but not me? I know I'm not the most comforting, but do you really find me that cold hearted that I wouldn't bother trying in my own way to support you when you were clearly in pain?" Felix felt the heat rise in his face. He was dangerously close to spilling out his emotions, and succumbing to what he had tried to prevent. He had to calm down, or he wouldn't be able to rein his temper. 

"That's not--" Sylvain was cut off before he could even explain.

"I don't want to hear it! Leave me alone!!" 

He heard Sylvain's breath hitch.

"I'm sorry."

He looked up and saw watered eyes with tears threatening to spill over. _Oh, Sylvain is about to cry. _His expression was not entirely dissimilar to that of when he had stood over the corpse of his older brother. It was a face that Sylvain rarely ever showed, and Felix hated it. After having to watch Sylvain kill his own brother and seeing the anguish in his face while doing so, Felix wanted to ensure that Sylvain would never have to make that kind of face again. Ironic. He should have been the one apologizing. This time he had been the one to paint such an expression on him, and it made his own eyes sting.__


End file.
